In this episode, I go further in upgrading my 1998 GMC Safari van ahead of vanlife season and add solar panels. I have a few certain special needs for my panels, mainly that they can't be mounted permanently to my roof because I want to have a canoe on there a lot of the time. Thinking at alternative options, I landed on my hood. I did sort of want to mount my new panels directly on the hood, but I went with a less permanent solution. Magnets. I built magnetic feet for the panels to sit on so they can sit on the hood semi permanently, but also I can take them off and move them to wherever I want. The panels are on a 25 foot long cord, so if I'm parked in the shade, I can move the panels to anywhere that there is sun. I personally like that aspect of this solution because parking in the shade makes sense comfort wise. I also like not having the panels mounted permanently for stealth reasons, especially considering that mine would be on the hood... Anyways, I used two 30 watt Voltset brand solar panels off Amazon. I paid $85 each for them. They were originally $100 Canadian, but I got them 15% off. You can find these panels here: www.amazon.ca/...
I also paired them with a 2 to 1 SAE connector which can be found here: www.amazon.ca/...
And I added that all to my original set up which had an extension cable like this: www.amazon.ca/...
And that plugged into a cheap solar charger like this, although I think there are probably better options: www.amazon.ca/...
Anyways, that's what I replaced my original free solar panel with. The old panel was so big it wasn't worth carrying around or using, so that's why I upgraded. My van charges as it drives via the alternator, and I don't have huge power demands(fridge, fan, lights), so this was meant as an auxiliary charger when I stick around camp for a few days in a row. I'm happy with it, and it's already better than before.
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Have a good day!
28 авг 2024
